Dr Shadaab Rahemtulla

Senior Lecturer in Islamic Studies

  • School of Divinity

Contact details

Address

Street

School of Divinity, University of Edinburgh
New College, Mound Place

City
Edinburgh
Post code
EH1 2LX

Background

A Canadian Muslim of Indian descent, Dr Shadaab Rahemtulla is Senior Lecturer in Islamic Studies at the School of Divinity, University of Edinburgh. He has also served as Divinity's Director of Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI), winning the University's Advancing Inclusion Award in 2022.

Shadaab's primary interest lies in the relationship between religion, power, and resistance, exploring how sacred texts can be (re)interpreted to challenge oppressive structures, including poverty, patriarchy, racism, and empire. His book, "Qur'an of the Oppressed: Liberation Theology and Gender Justice in Islam" (Oxford University Press, 2018), is a global, comparative analysis of how contemporary Muslim theologians have expounded the Qur'an as a liberating scripture, speaking to their own lived realities of marginalisation. Shadaab is also the editor of "The Future of Islamic Liberation Theology" (MDPI, "Religions", 2023). As the title suggests, this Special Issue charts out new horizons in the field of Islamic Liberation Theology (ILT), reflecting on interconnected questions of decolonisation, indigenous rights, gender, sexuality, social class, and incarceration.

Alongside liberation theology, Shadaab has written on Islamo-Christian relations, religious pluralism, and the Muslim Friday Prayer. Before joining the University of Edinburgh in 2019, he was an Assistant Professor at the University of Jordan's School of International Studies in Amman, where he taught for six years. Shadaab received his doctorate in contemporary Islamic thought from the University of Oxford in 2013.

Qualifications

BA (Hons), MA (Simon Fraser), MA (Toronto), PhD (Oxford)

 

Undergraduate teaching

  • "God of the Oppressed: Liberation Theologies in Christianity and Islam" (Level 10)
  • "Gender in Islam" (Level 10)
  • "Pioneers of Political Islam" (Level 10)
  • "Islamophobia" (as part of the Level 8 "Foundation Seminar")
  • "Muslims in Britain" (as part of the Level 8 "Religion in Modern Britain")

Postgraduate teaching

  • "God of the Oppressed: Liberation Theologies in Christianity and Islam" (PG Version)
  • "Gender in Islam" (PG Version)
  • "Pioneers of Political Islam" (PG Version)
  • "The Study of Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations"

Open to PhD supervision enquiries?

Yes

Areas of interest for supervision

Shadaab would be happy to supervise dissertations within the fields of contemporary Islamic studies and / or Christian-Muslim relations. He would also welcome students interested in liberation theologies, including Black, Latin American, feminist, and decolonial theologies.

Research summary

Shadaab's research interests revolve around the following themes:

  • Modern Islamic thought
  • Interfaith engagement
  • Liberation theologies in Christianity and Islam
  • Religion, politics, and social movements
  • Hermeneutics (that is, the methodology of scriptural interpretation)